Assignment 1 first draft: Defining Discourse Community

Assignment 1- first draft

Defining discourse communuity

A discourse community can be defined as a group of knowledge bound together by certain characteristics. As stated by Swales (1990), common goals, participation, the exchange of information, genres that belong specifically to the community, specialized terminology and a high level of expertise, help recognize a discourse community (as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010).

Taking as an example of discourse community the community college, allows to see the goals the second shares; its members share knowledge, have purposes and relationships in common, their attitudes and values are similar and their discourse also shares a particular structure and style. Also, the way the members understand how to communicate their knowledge is shared among them (Kelly-Kleese, 2001).

Participatory mechanisms constitute an important characteristic of discourse communities; participation is a key element in order to call them so. As stated by Kelly-Kleese (2001), “Participating in the discourse…….is an expectation of their culture; it is part of the conceptual scheme of the discourse community”(para 3).However, power is an issue in discourse communities. It is assumed that members are equals politically speaking, while in fact these communities “tend to minimize or exclude the participation of some people as they establish the dominance of others”(Clark, 1994,p.61, as cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2001).

The exchange of information within the discourse community goes hand in hand with the demand for a high level of expertise on the part of its members. As stated by Kelly-Klees, scholars write and publish their work, and in this way they have the “power……to name “what is” ( Kelly-Kleese, 2001). Scholars are the ones who have achieved the highest level of expertise, and consequently hold the highest levels of prestige within the community. It is at this point when the “opportunities to share knowledge, to create policy, and to redefine the language….”( Kelly-Kleese, 2004) can be used as opportunities for development.

Discourse community develops through the use of community-specific genres. As stated by Kutz (1997), the term speech community can be applied to professional communities that converse through writing, but “the more inclusive term discourse community, covering both spoken and written discourse, is usually used….” (as cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2004). Blanton, Simmons, and Warner (2001) say that “journals or virtual systems of communication can be used to mediate teacher learning so they can recall, share and respond to one another’s experiences” (as cited by Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles & Lopez Torres, 2003, para. 20). Related to this concept of specific genres is the use of acronyms and abbreviations as highly specialized terminology. For example Wenzlaff and Wieseman (2004), use acronyms when they report on a survey aimed at obtaining information  on aspects of the learning processes: “…absolutely true (AT) to mostly true (MT) …” (para. 20).

In conclusion, discourse communities have certain characteristics which, according to Swales (1990) and with the information provided by other authors, give discourse communities their unique meaning. Therefore, not all communities can be rated as such. The sharing of knowledge, for example, is one of the main goals these particular communities have, and the one which gives them their main purpose.

References

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J. & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved August 2010, from EAP- CAECE.

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s Choice: An Open Memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved August 2010, from EAP-CAECE.

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review:community college scholarship and discourse. Community college Review. Retrieved August 2010 from EAP-CAECE.

Pintos, V., & Crimi Y. (2010). Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers.  Buenos Aires, Argentina: Retrieved  August 2010 from EAP-CAECE.

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers Need Teachers To Grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved August 2010 form EAP- CAECE.